Political candidates may have to cough up a little extra to get their word out in Arapahoe County.
Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson recently announced that he would be billing political campaigns for “extraordinary” security measures at rallies and other large events.
The costs of providing security measures for planned political events has always placed an undue burden on the limited resources of local taxpayers, Robinson said.
“Political campaigns that spend significant amounts of money for advertisement efforts should certainly be capable and willing to pay for the costs of providing extraordinary security measures for their planned events,” Robinson said.
Depending on the length of the event, the profile of participating dignitaries and required security measures, a typical four- to six-hour event could easily cost local taxpayers in excess of $25,000, he said.
The announcement comes as political activity — both nationally and locally — heats up in the area. Several high-profile candidates, including Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, have visited the county in recent weeks in an effort to capture votes for the Colorado caucuses held last week.
The policy is slightly different in Aurora, said Officer Frank Fania, a public-information officer for the Police Department. The department does not typically provide any “extraordinary” security for political candidates, other than presidential candidates, the president or the vice president, he said.
Joey Kirchmer: 303-954-2650 or jkirchmer@denverpost.com
